1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peer-to-peer network content distribution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, it is known in the relevant prior art to provide peer-to-peer (P2P) networks via the internet for sharing digital content, including video, for live streaming service over content distribution networks (CDNs). By way of example, relevant documents include the following:
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20120221646 by Ciminiera, et al. for “Caching of Digital Contents in P2P Networks,” filed Nov. 13, 2009, describing a method for enabling sharing of content files among nodes of a P2P network, comprising sub-networks each including a respective plurality of nodes capable of storing content files.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20040249888 by Berkey, et al. for “Command and control of arbitrary resources in a peer-to-peer network,” filed May 12, 2004, disclosing a method and apparatus for virtualizing access to resources in a distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) network.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20120191778 by Kim, et al. for “Content Distribution Network for Supporting Peer-to-Peer Live Streaming,” filed Jan. 28, 2011, describing a method and system for providing a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) live streaming service over a Content Distribution Network (CDN).
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20120102535 by Weintraub, et al. for “Content Storage and Delivery System and Associated Method and Device,” filed Nov. 9, 2011, disclosing a system for the storage of content on a network and the delivery of content to subscriber locations. Content is delivered over a packet-switching network according to a peer to peer file distribution protocol.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20100070570 by Lepeska for “Dedicated Shared Byte Cache,” filed Sep. 10, 2009, relates to methods, apparatus, and systems for providing peer-to-peer network acceleration.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20080189617 by Covell, et al. for “Distributed Video Content Management and Sharing System,” filed Jan. 22, 2008, describing a system which enables cooperative rich media content management, sharing, and publishing across a distributed set of websites, web servers, and media servers based on control information in an online database.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20060265401 by Edmond, et al. for “Grid Network for Distribution of Files,” filed May 19, 2006, disclosing a system including first server nodes having authentication functions coupled to a network, wherein the system also includes second server nodes having repositories of complete files also coupled to the network, and still further includes a set of client nodes having local repositories for files coupled to the network.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20040246921 by Bates, et al. for “Method and System for persisting content in a decentralized network,” filed May 27, 2004, describing methods to ensure that content defining a sub-grid of a decentralized network continues to be provided to the sub-grid upon departure of a node from the sub-grid that has been responsible for providing the content.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20060031537 by Boutboul, et al. for “Method, system, and program product for optimized concurrent data download with a grid computing environment,” filed Jun. 8, 2004, teaching a grid computer system having a plurality of download servers in network communication with client computers and a download management system, a client requests a download plan from the download management system for downloading data in parallel from the plurality of download servers to a client.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20120221647 by Ciminera, et al. for “Sharing of Digital Contents in P2P Networks Exploiting Localization Data,” filed Nov. 3, 2009, disclosing a method for enabling sharing of content files among nodes of a P2P network is provided. The P2P network comprises sub-networks each including a respective plurality of nodes capable of storing content files.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20100198992 by Morrison, et al. for “Synchronization of audio and video signals from remote sources over the internet,” filed Apr. 8, 2010, describing an architecture and technology for a method for synchronizing multiple streams of time-based digital audio and video content from separate and distinct remote sources, so that when the streams are joined, they are perceived to be in unison.
U.S. Patent Pub. No. 20090055461 by Georgis, et al. for “System and method for effectively optimizing content segment downloads in an electronic network,” filed Aug. 23, 2007, disclosing a system and method for optimizing content distribution in an electronic network includes a peer-to-peer network of client devices; also, including an optimization module from a tracking server iteratively redistributes said content segments among the client devices to seek an optimal content segment configuration of said content segments for optimizing performance characteristics of content reassembly procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,903,652 by Huang, et al. for “System and method for peer to peer video streaming,” filed Dec. 14, 2006, teaching, in an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) system, an IPTV server is configured to receive a request from an IPTV content storage device (CSD) to view a video stream. The IPTV server selects a set of peers for the IPTV CSD, and transmits the set of peers to the IPTV CSD.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,512,943 by Hester, et al. for “Distributed caching of files in a network,” filed Aug. 30, 2005, disclosing distributed caching and download of a filing, including a method for building a peer list comprising a listing of potential peer servers from among one or more networked computers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,567,987 by Shappell, et al. for “File Sharing in P2P group shared spaces,” filed Oct. 24, 2003, describing a computer implemented method and system enable users to share files in a server-less shared space, by providing access to such spaces via a visual presentation, the system renders content available for access by other group members.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,030 by Teodosiu, et al. for “Locator and tracing service for peer to peer resource,” filed Sep. 13, 2001, including a resource naming service (RNS) server receives peer resource request from peer platforms through a networking environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,122,098 by Richardson, et al. for “Managing content delivery network service providers by a content broker,” filed Nov. 17, 2008, describing a system, method, and computer readable medium for managing network storage provider and CDN service providers are provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,857,012 by Sim et al. for “Method and apparatus for initializing a new node in a network,” filed May 18, 2001, teaching a method for initializing a new node in a network. The network has multiple nodes arranged in a virtual tree format.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,603,464 by White, et al. for “Method and system for identifying available resources in a peer-to-peer network,” filed May 27, 2004, disclosing a method for a peer of a peer-to-peer network to search for an available resource is provided, including a peer-to-peer grid and system for publishing and identifying an available resource in a peer-to-peer distributed network are also provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,166,154 by Choi for “Method for streaming multimedia content,” filed Aug. 13, 2005, describing streaming multimedia content from a content server to client, user multimedia devices (UMDs) connected to the content server through a network includes the steps of monitoring storage states, of UMDs connected to the network, for present multimedia content, and automatically transmitting a starting block of the content to any UMD not yet storing the block; also, tasks preparatory to streaming are advantageously offloaded to the client side and distributed among UMDs, to realize reduced bandwidth and delay and to conserve on storage capacity of a UMD.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,117,306 by Baumback, et al. for “Optimizing content management,” filed Sep. 29, 2008, teaching a system and method for monitoring the performance associated with fulfilling resource requests and determining optimizations for improving such performance are provided, including the use of a CDN/CDN service provider.
The prior art fails to provide video streaming over P2P networks outside the structure and control of CDNs.